Arrow Inferno

***

Something in Jeremy's voice got to Ryan. He nodded and fell into step beside his mate with no more protests. When they got to where Gloria knelt with Joel's arms around her, Jeremy let go of Ryan's hand and drew his mother into his arms. "Shh...it's okay mum." He turned to look at Philip's father who he respected so much.

"Take care of her for me Uncle Jo."

"You know I will." The elderly man who didn't make any attempt to wipe the tears off his own face responded in a hoarse voice. "Go and handle things with Philip. I'll take her home."

Jeremy hugged Gloria tightly and kissed her on the forehead. Then he gave her to Joel and grabbed Ryan's hand again. Philip fell into step beside his alpha. Stan had taken a wailing Paige away. "Hey, hang in there," Philip muttered.

Jeremy threw an arm around Philip's shoulder and bumped his head against his. "Scared?"

"Terrified," Philip muttered. "I'm not ready for this. A month or two I can handle. But two whole years? Fuck!"

"You can do it, bro," Jeremy assured him as they climbed into Philip's black sedan. "There's no better person than you. Hell, I just might leave it for you to handle permanently even if I get lucky enough to come back alive."

"Don't fucking joke with this Jer," Philip growled. "Don't you dare. You're going to survive. I won't have it any other way. If you die on me, I'll find a way to follow you in there, look for a way to revive you, and kill you all over again. Slowly and painfully. That's a promise."

"I will fight to survive, Lip," Jeremy said softly, turning to look at Ryan. "I have a lot to live for."

"Jeremy..." Ryan was shaking with dread. There was so much he could take. "I need to know."

"I'll explain, I promise," Jeremy said but he really didn't have any idea how he was going to bring himself to explain the verdict reached at the council quarters, to Ryan. Not only was he ashamed, but Jeremy also dreaded breaking the news to Ryan. The alpha dreaded how Ryan would react to the news? Would he be happy? Relieved? Indifferent? Sad? Jeremy congratulated himself on his outward calm because inside, he was a quivering mess. "Let's make a quick stop to the office. I need to go over some stuff with Lip. After that, we'll go home and then I'll tell you everything, okay?"

Ryan nodded as the SUV sped away from the council quarters. From the little he'd gathered, Jeremy was going away for two years. He didn't know exactly where that Fort was but he'd already resolved to go with Jeremy because no way in hell was he going to stay away from the man for two years. He was entitled to a long sabbatical anyway so it wouldn't be a problem at all. If the school didn't let him off, he would resign and look for another job when they got back. He however didn't particularly like the way Jeremy and Philip kept talking about survival and death. But he knew Jeremy would explain soon.

At the pack office, Ryan paced as Jeremy and Philip went over some documents. At a point, he wandered into an empty office and sat down in one of the chairs with his head in his hand. He didn't know how long he sat there but when he came to himself, he wondered what was taking Jeremy so long. He got to his feet and slowly made his way out of the office, slipping his hands into his pocket as he walked. When Ryan felt his cell phone inside his pocket, he pulled it out and just stared at it for a while. Then he dialed Gloria's number.

"Are you okay, Ryan?" Came Gloria's shaky voice. That voice sounded nothing like that of the Gloria he'd come to know and love.

"Are you okay?" Ryan threw back at her, hating how defeated the elder sounded.

"No, I'm not." She sniffled. "How are you holding up?"

"Well, I still don't know exactly what's going on." Ryan could hear Joel trying to soothe Gloria in the background, saying they had to go home. "Where are you, Gloria?" He asked, curious.

"Parked downstairs." The elderly woman breathed shakily.

"I'll be right down," Ryan said and hung up. He went back to the conference room where he'd left Jeremy and Philip and found them standing around the conference table with Stan and Paige. They seemed engrossed in some maps they were looking at. "Hey, I'll be downstairs with Gloria and Joel," Ryan told Jeremy quietly when he got to his side. Jeremy nodded. "I'll be done soon."

"Just concentrate on what you're doing here okay?" Ryan said quietly. Then as if it was the most natural thing to do, Ryan went up on his toes and kissed Jeremy on the cheek.

Jeremy watched his mate go and groaned, cursing himself. "I'm counting on you to keep him safe, guys. He will be safe after I mark him. But if what's happening to all these alphas is any kind of war, he's going to be a target." "On my life, I swear to you brother, he will be safe," Philip said with so much emotion.

"We'll all protect him with our lives, Jer," Stan added, lightly slapping Jeremy on the back.

The alpha nodded and turned his attention to a quiet and pensive Paige. "It's not his fault Paige." He said softly, knowing instinctively that Paige blamed his mate for his predicament.

"Pardon me Jer, but I don't really know him. And as far as I'm concerned his presence triggered all this." She said stonily.

"Are you saying I shouldn't have met my mate?" Jeremy asked tightly.

"You can't expect me to be happy you did when thanks to him," she jabbed a thumb toward the door, "I don't even know whether I'm going to see you again or not." She hissed, showing how furious she was. She'd always been protective of her boys as she called the three men. And she hated that Jeremy had to suffer Luna's axe.

"Paige..." Philip growled a warning to the woman who was not only his sister but was also part of their clique. "Settle down. This is not the time for anger."

Jeremy took his eyes off Paige's angry face, back onto the map spread out on the conference table. For a moment he couldn't see anything on the map. The drawings swam before his eyes. Shit, not again, he told himself as he blinked to get his sight back. He felt his hands shaking and clenched them. Paige had always been a brutally honest person. The friends always relied on her to say what was on everyone's mind. They affectionately called her Slip because she never held her thoughts back. She would always say innocently, after dropping whatever outrageous thought that was on her mind, that it slipped out. Something that others would find difficult to say would just slip out of Paige's mouth with cheeky ease. How many people felt as Paige felt, Jeremy wondered worriedly. Those very close to him were the people he was counting on to keep his mate safe. And if they felt anyway as Paige did, his mate wasn't safe.

Jeremy was dying inside but he knew he had to look strong for his people. Fuck!